Dinner's in the dog: The perils of no-shows for restaurants

If you're a restaurant owner and take bookings, you must have dealt with the issue of no-shows.

Whether they’re a regular occurrence, or a problem that happens occasionally, customers not turning up is annoying.

Customers don’t always realise that failing to show up for their booking is harmful to a business and causes them to lose potential profits.

This makes dealing with the issue of no-shows tricky for businesses who need to maintain good relationships with customers.

Restaurateurs from independents to major chains have taken to naming and shaming no-show guests, requiring deposits and even selling tickets for tables.

"It has a big impact on our business and all restaurants," Willem Vlok, owner of the Old Downton Lodge in Ludlow says.

"As we are a small 20 seater restaurant we have decided that for parties of four and more we will ask for a deposit of £30 per person.

"This has worked but does have it problems. As you can imagine customers cancel due to illness, with the dilemma being – do we keep their deposit? We have always tried to be fair and offered to re-arrange bookings. The reason we brought this policy in was we had a large party of nine book who were also staying, when they arrived they informed me they wanted to cancel as the family would prefer to go out. What could I do?

"We accept we are never going to change people's behaviour. We just have to take it on the chin and hope for the best."

Mr Vlok remembers a time when he was working in a restaurant in South Africa and they had a no-show.

"My boss at the time called the person at 1am in the morning once we had cleaned up and were ready to go home. His exact words to the customer were, 'Hello Mr Smith, this is Henning from the Spur. You have a table reserved for dinner tonight and I just wanted to check if you were still coming in as we would like to let the staff go home if you were not'. I have no idea what the reply was but always thought that was a good call."

Sean Morris, co-owner of The Coach House in Norbury near Bishop's Castle, says he also gets frustrated by customer no-shows.

"There is nothing worse than having bought in the food and lovingly prepared it, which in our case can be quite a long process, only for the customers to not show up," he says.

"Not only do we lose the money on the ingredients but also the income that would have been generated from them as well as any additional spend on drinks etc. Our service staff also miss out on any potential tips that they may have earned and we are left with empty seats in the restaurant which impacts the atmosphere."

Mr Morris says in some ways technology is to blame. "Many customers will book online now without ever having to speak to anyone here. The process is so easy that sometimes it feels like the decision not to come is just as easy," he says.

Footfall

"In a major city where there is a lot of footfall that may not be as big an issue but in a remote rural business such as our own we have no chance of filling that table on the night. Depending on the size of the group that no-shows that may also impact our staffing levels.

"Last year we had a table of eight cancel on us for a Christmas tasting menu which they had booked six months in advance. We were covered on the rooms that they had booked but not for the meal and that was half the restaurant suddenly empty. Its a very bitter pill to swallow."

Laura Penman, owner of Ludlow-based Fishmore Hall Hotel, says they now call everyone the day before arrival to confirm that they are coming.

"We have also put a deposit policy in for large tables and afternoon teas," she says. "The phone bills have increased but we are in a better better position to be able to give tables to other guests. We will also have potentially employed additional staff to come in work, they still need to be paid. The chefs will have bought more food in anticipation, and in a kitchen where everything is fresh and not frozen, it all has to go in the bin if people don’t eat it. For every no show table of two we lose a possible £150 or more which for a small independent hotel is a big deal."

Sarah Isherwood, head of marketing at Wolverhampton-based Marston’s, which has pubs across the West Midlands, says: “We always have a proportion of tables that are not available to be pre-booked so if a customer does not show, there are still tables for those who decided just to pop-in.

"Larger parties may be asked for a deposit to secure a booking on key dates as we have found that this helps to ensure the table doesn’t cancel last minute or just not show and acts as a small compensation for the pub during this eventuality.”

Shrewsbury-based software development company Info Quick UK believes it has come up with its own solution to help restaurants hit by constant no-shows.

The company has already developed a solution for the beauty salon market, but in particular nail technicians where over 50 per cent still use a pen and paper to book appointments but who suffer financially when their customers fail to turn up for their appointment.

Managing director Brian Foster says "Our system, which has now been through a successful trial period, is based around the sending of reminder text messages usually one the day before and another a couple of hours before the appointment.

"This jolts the customer to send a reply message if they can’t make it and allows the salon plenty of time to re-book that time slot."

Mr Foster said whilst technology has enhanced businesses in so many ways there are sometimes unintended consequences that can disrupt parts of the way a market functions.

This can be seen in the substantial rise in the number of no-shows that restaurants now experience, he says.

"Diners who book a table and then just don’t turn up leave the restaurant with empty tables and less cash in the till and those restaurants affected lay the blame squarely at the doors of Smartphone apps.

Obliged

"The whole process of booking a table has become so much easier for the diner and in many ways the restaurant has benefited in streamlining their systems. But an unintended consequence has resulted in the booking process becoming impersonal where the diner thinks nothing of just not turning up.

"This would have simply never happened in years gone by because you called the restaurant yourself to make the booking and if you couldn’t make it then you felt morally obliged to call back and cancel, giving the restaurant plenty of time to re-book the table.

"The crucial factor is that quite often the customer forgets to call and cancel the appointment and so because they just don’t show up then it is far too late for the salon to use that vacant time. This can cause financial issues and especially the smaller nail tech businesses."

Mr Foster says his company is looking to work closely with restaurants who have experienced these issues and are motivated to do something about it before it becomes too serious a problem.

"We have what we think is a viable solution but are keen to speak with restaurant owners who would like to be involved in this project and help design its functionality to fit in with their practices.

"There would of course be no cost to the restaurant for helping us to develop the application and they would receive preferential terms for ongoing usage once operational," Mr Foster adds.

Brian can be contacted on 01743 581425 or brian.foster@infoquick.co.uk